nformed of the real circumstance. The next day the hounds were out,
and also the Squire's tenant; they had drawn some time without
finding, when the farmer reminded his Lordship of the fox caught. 'Do
you think,' said he, 'I will allow my hounds to hunt a bag-fox? I
should never be forgiven by my huntsman!' At last, after drawing
several coverts without finding, his Lordship gave his consent (but it
was to be kept a great secret), and the bag was to be touched upon the
ground in a line for a covert they were going to draw, to have the
appearance of a disturbed fox, and the fox to be turned down in it.

On going to covert, a favourite hound, called Partner, feathered on
the scent. The huntsman exclaimed in ecstacy, 'Old Partner touches on
him; we shall certainly find in the next covert.' They found the
bag-fox, and had a tolerable run; but when they killed him, not a
hound would eat him! 'Now, Sir,' said his lordship to the farmer, 'you
have deceived the huntsman and the field, but you cannot deceive my
hounds.'

Next to turning out bag-men, lifting of hounds is the most
prejudicial. They should seldom be taken 'off their noses,' nothing is
gained by it in the end; hounds that are seldom lifted will kill more
foxes in the course of a season than those that frequently are. Some
years ago, when hunting with the Duke of Grafton's hounds in Suffolk,
they came to a check all in a moment, at a barn near some cross-roads;
they were left alone, and made a fling of themselves, in a perfect
circle, without hitting the scent; many gentlemen exclaimed, 'It is
all over now, Tom; the only chance you have is to make _a wide cast_.'
'No,' answered the huntsman, 'if the fox is not in that barn, my
hounds ought to be hung.'

Dick Foster, the whipper-in, now huntsman to Mr. Villebois (and a very
good one he is), was ordered to dismount and see if he could discover
the fox; he returned and said he was _not_ there.' Tom Rose still was
positive; at last he was viewed on a beam in the barn, and they killed
him, after a further run of about a mile. I mention this trivial
circumstance to show you clearly, that if the hounds had been hurried
up either of the roads on a wide cast, made by an ignorant huntsman,
the fox would inevitably have been lost.

Were I to have some sporting friends coming to see my hounds in the
field, I should prefer going away _close at him_ for twenty minutes,
then a short check, to bring the hounds to a hunting scent